Grace pursues…through the power of nature!
(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)
Jonah 1:15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
You have probably heard, “There are no atheists in a fox hole.” When life is on the line, our instinct is to cry out to God…perhaps not knowing who that God is. Yet, there is an inner sense that there is a god bigger and more powerful around us. We call this the natural knowledge of God. The natural knowledge of God is realized in two areas: nature and our conscience. The Psalmist wrote of nature:
Psalm 119:1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Nature, creation, the world around us gives evidence to the individual that there is someone more powerful, more intelligent, and more creative than they. The sailors on the ship realized the power of the wind and the strength of the waves was beyond their ability to control. They cried out to their gods seeking reprieve from the storm. Nothing happened. Jonah indicated to the men that the God from whom he was running was the one who created the wind and the waves. He was proved right when he was thrown overboard and the “raging sea grew calm.” The response of the crew? They “offered sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.” Did the Lord become just another god in their divine sailor toolkit or did the other gods get fired and the Lord filled their heart? Again, we don’t know, but we do know the power of nature led them to the Lord, through Jonah.
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul was speaking to the Athenians who had gods for all different things of nature. He indicates that one who seeks after the Lord, the Lord will honor. Acts 17:24-28 says:
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
The sailors reached out. The sailors encountered the Lord.
In no way will we justify Jonah’s disobedience, but God used it as an opportunity to show his power in the waters of the sea and show his power to affect the hearts of the sailors. How did things end for the sailors? We don’t know. But knowing the heart of the Lord, I am certainly of the opinion that he did not let their encounter with the Lord through Jonah go to spiritual waste!
Apply: How does experiencing the power of God in nature lead you to seek more about the true God in his Word?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for using all means available to you to bring people closer to you. Honor the search nature sends one on so that all individuals intrigued by the power of nature will come to believe and trust the power of your Gospel. AMEN.
Grace for all…even the disobedient!
(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)
Disruption because of disobedience.
Virtually every day on the news there are stories of people who acted in senseless violence or evil and have affected the lives of people in a negative way for the rest of their lives. Drunk drivers kill innocent families. Disgruntled employees shoot up their previous employment injuring and killing people. The headlines are many.
One can only imagine what was happening in the city of Nineveh that “came up before the Lord.” The Lord saw their wickedness and that is why he sent Jonah to go preach against it. Was everyone in Nineveh wicked? Perhaps not, but many were perpetuating evil and many were suffering as a result of it.
But it wasn’t just the disobedience of Nineveh that was before the Lord. The disobedience of Jonah nearly cost the sailors their lives.
What the captain thought was a few extra dollars to take Jonah to Tarshish led to a frantic effort to save the whole ship from wrecking. In the process, they had to throw cargo overboard, devaluing their trip across the Mediterranean.
Yet, in the process, the Lord was still recognized as the true God because when they eventually through Jonah overboard, the storm stopped, something their cries to their gods could not do.
4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish.”
7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”
10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the Lord, “O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
Here’s two reflections to take with your day.
- As much as we think our disobedience of the Lord may not affect other people, it certainly can. We act in an unloving way to our spouse, the day doesn’t go so well. We are dishonest at work, our employer loses our productivity or some of their product. We post a thoughtless message on social media, and someone is crushed by the negativity of your message. The Lord gave us the Ten Commandments not only to guide our love of him and others, but to protect us and also for us, as we keep them, to be a blessing to others.
- God, in his amazing way, still will be glorified, even when our performance fails miserably to glorify him. In the case of the sailors, they knew the God from whom Jonah was fleeing was superior to their gods. God can be glorified when his justice is carried out and sin is exposed. God is glorified when sin is confronted and the sinner is brought to repentance, is forgiven and works to restore what is broken. Sometimes God is glorified through tragedies brought on by evil as people turn to him seeking understanding, peace and comfort in their difficulty.
As we will see, God in his grace will save and restore Jonah even after his disobedience. God’s grace is not a license to disobey, but it is a comfort to know his grace is for all, even the disobedient.
Apply: What disobedience is God calling you to repent of today? What results of sin you’ve committed might the Spirit be moving you to restore?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for your mercy that calls out our disobedience, brings us to repentance and once again showers us with your grace. AMEN.
Grace for all…don’t run away!
(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)
Why would Jonah run?
Jonah 1:3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
God desires that the people in Nineveh have a chance to repent and turn to him. He gives the call to Jonah and…Jonah runs from the Lord.
How could Jonah disobey the Lord like that? Wouldn’t he be honored by the call the Lord gave and marvel at the opportunity to give hearts a chance to repent and turn to the Lord. Certainly the Lord wouldn’t send him on an idle mission.
Yet he ran.
I love the people in the Bible because they are so real…and, unfortunately, so reflective of me. When characters are recorded in the Bible, the Spirit of God wanted us to know about them and, I believe, see ourselves in them.
So let’s ask a different question.
Why would I run from the call the Lord gave me to speak to someone about their sin and call them to turn to Jesus for forgiveness?
I can give you quite a few reasons. Maybe you can add some of your own.
- I’m afraid of how they will respond. In an age that pointing out anything wrong is deemed judgmental at best and hateful at worst, why would I want to put my personal and emotional well-being at risk?
- I don’t have time. I have a busy schedule and things to do. To take time to talk, listen, dialogue with people about spiritual things just isn’t top on the to-do list today.
- I’m embarrassed. Having seen “street preachers” on street corners I believe if I come across like them it would be embarrassing.
- I might lose a relationship. People are fickle and even if you are well-meaning and want them to enjoy grace and forgiveness, they may not receive it that way. I don’t want to upset the relational balance of that friendship or within my family.
- I don’t think they deserve to hear about Jesus. Too often this is the mindset that keeps us from having honest conversations about sin and grace with people. It’s easy to look in culture and see the wickedness and evil that runs counter to the will of God and simply see society going to “h…” in a hand basket. Yet instead of seeing souls that need Jesus, we see souls getting what their sin deserves…and being ok with it.
What would you like to add to the list?
In all of these, what is lacking is the heart of God. My sinful, self-centered, self-righteous heart easily finds reasons to run from the opportunities God sets up for me to proclaim the Gospel. Without saying it out loud, I can sound like the Pharisees in Jesus’ day:
Matthew 9:10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’?”
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
The proof of Jesus’ heart? He called me. He called you.
He proved that his grace is for all by connecting us to his grace. He could have made all of the above excuses about bringing grace to me, but he didn’t. He found someone willing to share sin and grace with me. Through that message he has created and sustained faith in my heart.
Is it not possible that he desires to use you to bring the same grace you enjoy to the hearts of others?
Yes. Yes, it is.
Apply: What conversation are you “running from” because of one of the excuses above? Ask the Spirit for boldness of heart and clarity of mind and thought to lovingly engage in a conversation to bring sin and grace to that individual.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for finding a way to bring your grace to me. Forgive me when I run like Jonah. Guide me into your heart to have a passion for those that don’t know you and a love for your call to bring grace to all. AMEN.
Is God vindictive?
(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)
Last week in a small group discussion on the book of Joshua, we spent some time asking this question, “Is God vindictive?”
The reason for the question is a common question that creates stumbling blocks for people as they read the Old Testament and see God approve of the complete slaughter of peoples’ living in Canaan as the people of Israel take claim on the land as God had promised to “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
To be sure the killing of men, women and children is hard to swallow – whether directed by evil men or by the Almighty God.
On the surface our mind concludes that killing is evil and if killing is done by evil individuals, God must also be evil if he authorizes or allows the killing to take place.
Perhaps too much for a morning devotion, but it is an important topic because it’s ramifications are far reaching.
God is just and God is holy.
We live in an era that certainly people aren’t holy, but individuals claim the morality of justice for themselves. If one THINKS it is just, then others must think that too. We live in an era that degrades those that would uphold justice such as police, judges, etc. We want the “book thrown” at those we oppose, but in no way would we agree that we deserve the book thrown at us. If it’s our idea of justice, than those who violate that justice should be punished. If one would challenge our standard of justice, we are dismissed at best, labeled haters at worst.
Unfortunately in our society justice is seen as subjective, situational, and able to change. Culture dismisses objective truth because it challenges the source of that truth whether it is the Bible, the Constitution or the local laws.
All of this is perpetuated under the pseudo umbrella of “love.” Love should have no boundaries. So this is how it plays out in the spiritual dialogue:
If God is loving, he will support whatever I do. For God to put down boundaries, let alone enforce those boundaries is not what loving people or gods do.
This is a key lie that Satan has made believable in many people’s minds.
So of course it doesn’t make sense and is repulsive to see in the Bible people’s wiped out by “God’s people.”
But we look a bit further to see the proper perspective and the heart of God.
First, God describes his character:
Exodus 20:5-6 I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Second God shows his heart to the wicked:
Ezekiel 33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
When the people didn’t turn to the Lord, the Lord carried out justice:
Deuteronomy 9:4 After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
There is more to be said, but quickly back to Jonah. God could have wiped out Nineveh because of their wickedness. He had every right to. However, he sent Jonah to preach to them and bring them to repentance so he might show his mercy instead of his justice.
This is true for you and me too. God warns us of wickedness and calls us to repentance so that we might live forever and not die eternally.
Apply: Why is it hard to understand and allow God’s justice to sit in parallel with his love?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for being perfectly just and perfectly loving. I am confident you show both, always in a perfect way. AMEN.
If God sends us…it’s important!
(This week’s devotions are based on Sunday’s message: Grace for All…Grace Pursues – LISTEN HERE)
“Hey, honey, can you go to the store and get…?”
“Girls, can you clean up your school stuff?”
“We have a new prospect, can you be prepared to share our company with them?”
When people make a request, it’s because there is something that is important that needs to be addressed. To be honest in the moment that the request is given, I, as a recipient of that request, evaluate if I, too, see it as valuable and carry it out, or carry it out because I care about and respect the person that gives it and therefore carry out the request because it is important to them.
Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
The Lord came with a specific request to Jonah because something was important to him: the people of Nineveh.
The issue was the wickedness of the city and he wanted Jonah, a God-fearing believer and prophet, to go confront it and call them to repentance.
If I were Jonah, I would be evaluating this “call” on it’s merit. Yes, it was from God, but it was to Nineveh of all places. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, an enemy of God’s people. The wickedness was a result of ungodliness and violence that occurs when the fear of the Lord is no longer a guidance for people.
But it wouldn’t matter what I thought.
The important component is that the Lord wanted these people to be confronted about their sin and hear about the grace of the Lord.
I am convinced, although not always good, that God puts us or directs us to where he wants us to be. Sometimes we see that for a job, or our education, or the best of our family…but perhaps God is sending us there because there is someone or a group of people that he cares about and he wants us to confront, in a loving way, about their sin and make sure they hear about their Savior.
These opening words cause us to pause and ask, “Why has God placed me where I am today? Or why is God sending me to another place or another situation?
The answer very well may be this: There is someone there who matters to God and wants to connect with a God-fearing believer who can confront sin and share grace.
The Apostle Paul understood the heart of God.
1 Timothy 2:1-6 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all people.
God wants all to spend eternity with him and enjoy the blessing of walking with him. And so he sends Jonah to Nineveh and he sends us to our community, our workplaces, our schools, our homes, our neighbors, our family. Why? Because there are people who need him, matter to him and whose grace is for them.
Apply: Consider…if the word of the Lord came to you this morning, where would God be sending you to be a light and witness for him.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for a heart that desires salvation for all and cares enough to send messengers of your grace to that person or group of people. AMEN.